Side moldings, gunnel rails and rub rails have been used over the years on boats to join hulls and decks together, where the gunnel rails have resilient materials inserted within their channels. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,065,724 to Tritt; and 4,292,913 to Siebert et al. Other similar bumper assemblies have been proposed for vehicles, docks, and the like, that also use similar expandible resilient material inserts inside of channels. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,473,836 to Halter.
Problems with these assemblies involve the labor, time and equipment that an installer must use to insert the resilient material into the gunnel rail channels. Typically, in the boating industry, an installer has been required to use multiple tools such as screwdrivers, hammer, pliers, hand spade, putty knives, duck-bill pliers, and the like, to jam, bang and push the resilient insert material into the channels. The current installation techniques are both time consuming and expensive projects in labor costs for the installation. These installation techniques cause scrapes, bumps, dents and tears in the insert material. Additionally, the installation tools often damage the channels and the surrounding surfaces on the boats and vehicles.
Under these conventional types of installation methods, the insert material strips often must be heated to soften the material in order for it to be used. The strip materials are generally heated in hot boxes or within hot water tanks. After heating, the strip materials are then installed with the tools described above. Problems occur from these heating techniques. The heating and subsequent cooling of the materials can cause non-uniform shrinkage and inconsistent expansion throughout the strip material within the gunnel rail channels resulting in unsightly bulges and depressions. Furthermore, the installers have received injuries such as damaged hands and other injuries that can and have resulted in workmen's compensation claims through the installation process. The above problems become compounded when the resilient insert materials need to be removed and replaced over time due to natural wear and use.
Over the years various patents have been proposed for the installation of resilient bumpers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,967 to Barenyi describes a “protective strip for motor vehicles . . . ”, title, that uses resilient bumpers with backings having expandible plug inserts that pass into recesses in the base walls of the channels. However, this reference requires multiple parts and extra tooling of parts that would not be a practical substitute for existing gunnel rails and rub rails on boats, vehicles, and the like.
Other techniques known for inserting resilient bumper strips into channels have included machines. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,400 to Miller et al. However, this type of machine would not be a practical alternative for a single user that needs to install the resilient insert bumpers into gunnel rails and rub rails that are already located on the sides of boats, vehicles, and the like. Clearly, this machine would be both expensive in cost and is incapable of being used for already mounted gunnel rails and rub rails.
Various handheld tools have also been proposed for installing resilient bumper type strips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,851 to Song describes a handheld tool in various embodiments that requires consistently bending the longitudinal length of the rubber molding into “a curve” that appears to approach up to one hundred eighty degrees in order to fit the rubber molding into the handheld tool. Song '851 mentions that having some resilient strips being “bent too sharply, the molding could break, or the frictional resistance of the molding passing through the tool could make the tool hard to use”, column 7, lines 24-27. The embodiments also require having the user physically insert the strip into the initial bent configurations in order to use the tool. Song '851 mentions a power tool version that also requires the user physically bend the resilient strip before running the tool. In addition to having to physically insert the strips, and having to continuously bend the strips, the user will still have to apply some pressure to use the tool as well as having to physically center these tools to be used, and the user will have to maintain a free-hand holding of the tool when being used which would be difficult for large insertion operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,950 to Galat describes an automated “crimping tool for progressively squeezing weather stripping on an elongated thin molding such as around the border of a vehicle door”, abstract. This tool would be difficult to use since it would require the user have to balance the tool in a substantially perpendicular orientation to the strip channel, and the user would have to maintain the position and orientation of the tool in a free-hand application. Additionally, this tool does not allow for the initial easy insertion of the strip into the channels. For example, this tool does not compress the strip for insertion into the channels.
Other techniques have been made but also fail to overcome all of the problems described above. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,084,533 to Boyer and 4,903,629 to Mauldin et al. Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems.